The Outsiders Oneshots
by greaserbabes
Summary: Different stories all mainly involving Ponyboy's relationships with the gang. Note: no slash in these oneshots I have nothing against slash stories, in fact i write many of them
1. Darry and Ponyboy

Ponyboy woke with a scream lodged in the back of his throat. A nightmare had plagued him yet again, but that night it had been particularly bad. His eyes darted around the room, and finally rested on Sodapop, who was sleeping soundly with his arm wrapped around his waist.

Ponyboy moved closer to his brother and tried to calm down, but the comfort of Soda wasn't enough. Not for this dream. Shakily, he moved Soda's arm and crawled out of his bed.

He walked down the hallway, and stopped in front of his oldest brothers door. He hesitated before knocking. Did he really need Darry? He was fifteen, not some child. Then again, most fifteen year olds hadn't experienced the traumatic losses that he had.

First his parents, then Johnny and Dally. Pony remembered his dream and shuddered, realizing that he figured waking Darry was worth it, even if he was angry. Slowly, almost carefully, he raised his fist and placed three soft knocks on the hard, wooden door.

He heard shuffling around, before his oldest brother opened up the door, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Pony?" Darry looked at him for a second. "Why're ya crying?"

Ponyboy wiped his eyes quickly, not even realizing that he had let tears slip down. "I-I just...I had a nightmare Darry. I needed you."

Darry raised his eyebrows. "Where's Soda?"

"I don't want Soda, I want you." Pony began to get worried that he would be sent back to bed. He couldn't go back to bed though, not without Darry. "Please..." he whispered.

Darry widened the door, allowing him to enter. "Calm down Pony, you can sleep in here." The eldest Curtis stared at his little brother in surprise as he sat on the bed. He couldn't remember that last time Pony had wanted his comfort over Soda's. In his mind, he had just accepted the fact that Pony would never want him.

Soda and Pony always had a special bond. They never fought and never kept secrets from each other. They were as close as brothers could get, and Darry was always left out. He was almost never home, as he worked so much, and when he was, he was cooking, cleaning, or sleeping. So it made sense to him why neither of the boys ever included Darry.

He watched his shaking brother and furrowed his brows, feeling extremely sorry for the boy. Gingerly, he cupped Pony's cheek and raised it, so that they were looking at each other. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Ponyboy shook his head furiously. "N-no Darry, I don't remember...ya know I can't ever remember."

Darry sighed and sat down next to him on the bed. "Pony, I'm smarter than that." He wrapped an arm around him and pulled his littlest brother closer. "I know that if if you didn't remember it then you'd still be in there with Sodapop." He rubbed his hand up and down Pony's arm, attempting to make his goosebumps go away. He wasn't sure if they were there because of the cold, or because of his dream.

Pony bit his lip and nodded, leaning his head against Darry's shoulder. "Do you..." he swallowed hard, trying to form the words. "Do you love me?"

Darry blinked. "Of course I love you Ponyboy. I love you a whole lot."

"You sure?" Pony asked, lips trembling.

"Ponyboy I know we may fight all the time, but that don't mean I don't love ya." Darry pulled him into a hug. "You have to know that...I love you Pony." He knew deep down that he didn't say that enough to Pony. It was just...hard. Pony and him didn't have that type of relationship. "I'll start telling you more, I didn't get to tell Mom and Dad enough...and now they're gone. I'm not gonna make the same mistake with you."

Pony clutched onto the soft fabric of his brothers t-shirt while sobbing into it. "I-I'll tell you more too. I love you Darry."

"I love you too Little Colt." Darry wiped away most of Pony's tears with just one sweep of his thumb. "Now why don't you tell me about your nightmare?"

Ponyboy took a long breath and then exhaled deeply. "Okay," he sniffed and began telling his story. "I didn't expect it in my dream. You were being so nice to me. You had just taken me out for ice cream and we had come back home, about to begin a game of cards. I was having a whole lot of fun, until there was a knock on the door," he began sobbing again and it took Darry a few minutes to calm him down.

After Pony managed to contain himself, he continued on with his story. "It was the social worker. She came to take me away and you handed me over to her as fast as you could. I didn't get any time to say goodbye to anyone. I cried and cried, and you just stood there watching me. I screamed for you but you didn't seem to care. The lady dragged me out to her car and locked me in as we drove alway.

You shut the door quickly and didn't even look at me..." he paused to take a breath. "W-when I got to a boys home I tried to write to you, but you never responded. No one did. Not you, not Soda, not Two-Bit, and not Steve. I kept writing though. I missed you all so much. And then one day...I got a letter from you. It said that I was a burden and nothing but an extra mouth to feed. You said that since Johnny was gone no one cared about me enough to keep me around.

You called the social worker and demanded that I was taken away...you didn't want to ever see me again. Not until I was grown and had a job and could support myself..." Pony sighed, feeling almost relieved to have let it out. He glanced up at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact with his brother. "It just scared me. I love you and I don't want to be sent away."

Darry stared at him wide eyed, hardly believing what he had heard. Had he really ignored Pony that much? Enough to where he dreamed about how much he hated him? The thought nearly brought a tear to his eye. "Ponyboy..." he whispered dryly. "Ponyboy..." Darry hugged him again, only twice as hard. "Pony I would never send you away. I love you way too much. I know I'm never around, but it's just because I'm working so the three of us can stay together. My biggest fear is losing either you or Soda..."

Pony couldn't believe it. Here was his brother, the foundation, the stone, super man, basically the only thing keeping their gang together, and he was admitting his greatest fear. The one thing that scared him more than anything else in the world.

Pony rubbed his eyes sleepily, happy to know that he wasn't a burden, and that Darry did indeed love him. "Can I sleep in your bed tonight?"

His brother nodded and allowed Pony to crawl out of his lap, and then to the other side of the bed. Darry laid down next to him and wrapped his arms around Pony's tiny waist. Ponyboy snuggled up against him and rested his hands on Darry's chest. He inhaled the scent of the shirt Darry was wearing and smiled, knowing that he wouldn't ever have to leave him.

Darry brushed away some of the loose hairs that had fallen into Pony's eyes and then lightly kissed his little brothers forehead. "Pony...you don't ever have to be afraid to come and talk to me, you know. I know that me and you haven't ever really talked before, and it's because you're scared of me."

Ponyboy looked away in shame. He wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear but Darry's strong arms were stopping him. "Darry, there were so many times I wanted to come and talk to you. I wanted to ask how your day was, or tell you about something at school...I was just afraid that you'd think I was being annoying."

The older boy chuckled. "I'm still your brother aren't I? You can still talk to me about brotherly things." He sighed. "I know it seems like I've grown up too fast--"

"You have." Pony cut in. "You have and it's not fair. You work way harder than a twenty one year old should have to." He bit his lip. "I'm sorry."

Darry rested his chin on top of Pony's head. "It ain't your fault and you know it. Don't ever blame yourself."

Pony sighed and nodded. "Maybe one day when I'm gone you can go to college or something, like you've always wanted to."

Darry's throat tightened. He knew that he would never have the money to go, but thought it was so sweet of Pony to care that he just didn't say anything. He only tightened his grip on him. Both of them were quiet after that, feeling fatigue take over them. Darry had just closed his eyes when his bedroom door burst open, revealing a panicking Sodapop trying to pull on a pair of pants.

"Ponyboy's gone! I looked all over the house and he ain't here! We gotta go find him! Come on Darry get up!" Soda struggled with his blue jeans that he was putting on backwards.

"He ain't gone, he's sleeping with me tonight Pepsi." Darry turned his head and saw Soda relax and sigh in relief. Pony chuckled lightly, without looking up. He was too tired to even open his eyes.

"Thank goodness." Soda said, dropping the jeans and crawling into bed with Darry on the other side of Pony. "Gosh a mighty I was scared to death. Don't you ever do that to me again Ponyboy Curtis."

Pony mumbled an 'okay' and then he soon fell back asleep. Soda sighed lightly and kissed his brothers head. "I guess I'll go back to our room," he whispered while sitting up. He didn't want to ruin the only time with Pony that Darry ever really got.

Darry frowned. "How come?"

"He needs you right now, not me."

"Awe come lay down with us Soda." He smiled. "He needs us both."

Soda flashed his one of a kind grin and slowly laid back down. He wrapped his arms around Pony as well and soon fell asleep. Darry couldn't remember the last time him and his brothers had all been this close for such a long period of time, but he liked it. It was nice to know that they cared. Slowly, he let his eyes flutter shut, as he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

The next morning, Soda woke up early to get ready for work. He gazed down at his sleeping brothers and smiled. What they needed was some time with each other. They didn't get nearly enough.

Darry had no clue who Pony really was, and it was the same the other way around. Soda saw that in them, and decided that the two were going to spend the entire day together. He told Two-Bit to find something else to do for the day, and Steve would be at work with him, so it wasn't hard to leave them a clean, empty house.

Him and Steve looked around the spotless house, that they had just finished cleaning, one more time before hopping in the car to go to work. Darry was going to call in that day, so he wouldn't need it.

After they were going me it only left the two sleeping Curtis boys. Pony was still curled up into Darry's side, clutching onto him as if his life depended on it.

He was the first to wake up. Ponyboy yawned and stretched, glancing at the clock across the room. When he realized how late it was, he began to panic. "Darry!" He whispered yelled and shook his brother. "Darry it's late, you're gonna miss work."

Darry groaned, curving his back so that it would pop. "I'm calling in today Pony. You and I are gonna spend the day together." He smiled and ruffled his younger brothers hair.

Ponyboy was shocked at first. "B-but...what about money? And the state? I don't want you to get in trouble."

Darry frowned at him. "Ah Pony the state isn't gonna get me in trouble for taking one vacation day for the first time in a year." He rubbed Pony's back. "It's just your dream. You're still a bit scared, but you don't gotta be. I promise you you'll never get taken away. I'm gonna forever make sure of it."

Pony grinned widely and hugged him. "I love you." He said.

Darry smiled and wrapped his arms around him as well. "I love you too. You'll never get taken away from me." The two of them finally managed to get out of bed. "Why don't you take a shower? I'll cook breakfast."

"I can help you cook. I want to, actually."

Darry raises an eyebrow. "You want to help me cook?"

The younger Curtis nodded eagerly. "It could be fun!" Before Darry had any more time to protest, Pony rushed into the kitchen, with his older brother following close behind.

As soon as they reached their destination, Darry had started pulling out ingredients for pancakes. "Flour...eggs...what else?" He mumbled to himself.

Pony was watching him absentmindedly, when an idea came to his head. Smirking, he grabbed a handful of flour and smacked it on top of Darry's head.

His brother flinched, before slowly turning around. There was a fire in his eyes, and Pony backed up, sure that he had just ruined everything. After their entire talk they'd had last night, and after both of them getting excited to spend a day together, he had just ruined it all.

Darry glared at him. "I knew there was a reason why you wanted to "help cook."" Pony gulped looking down. "Ponyboy...you are going to regret that decision pretty quick little buddy."

Pony looked up, confused, but was soon met with a face full of flour. Darry began laughing and through some more on his baby brother. Ponyboy grinned, and tried to retaliate, but was pinned to the ground and was met with some ferocious tickling.

Pony squirmed and laughed before managing to gasp out, "O-okay! You w-win!" He rolled out from underneath Darry. They both looked around at the mess they had made. "I'm sorry," Pony said sheepishly. "I can clean it up, I started it."

Darry shook his head. "We can leave it for later. How 'bout we go out for breakfast?"

Ponyboy grinned and stood up, running to go get changed. His older brother watched him with a smile on his face, before hopping up and going to his own bedroom, excited for their day together.


	2. Two-Bit and Ponyboy

Two-bit sat up slowly when the front door of the front door of the Curtis house freaked open, revealing Ponyboy. The fourteen year old stepped inside and kicked off his shoes, sighing lightly. "Hey Two-bit," he set down his books and yawned. "I didn't see ya at school today."

Two-bit stood and cracked his back. "Yeah, I didn't really feel like going." He watched Pony walk into the kitchen and followed him. "I kinda wanted to sleep in this morning." He opened up the ice box and grabbed a beer, popping off the top. Ponyboy nodded and looked through it as well, before settling for a bottle of Pepsi. "You got a whole lot of Homework?" The older boy asked after taking a few drinks.

"Oh yeah, I always do." He sighed. "I should really get started on it right now, but I just need a break from school. I'm so tired."

"I know what ya mean." Two-but nodded, causing Pony to laugh.

"I'm sure you do, what with you going to school for half days maybe twice a week."

"And they're very hard days of school. I always show up when a new project is assigned."

"Which you never do..."

Two laughed loudly. "Good point kid." A small silence fell between them after that, but Pony didn't seem to mind. He just sat quietly on top of the counter, while looking at the ground, and finished off his drink.

After a couple minutes he hopped off and threw away his bottle."Guess I should get started..." he muttered and walked out to grab his book before walking back in and setting them on the kitchen table. He pulled out his Algebra homework and stared at it for a few seconds, before finally scribbling some stuff down onto a page.

Two-bit never left the room. He just leaned against the ice box and watched Pony, trying to figure out a way to bring up what he knew would be a sensitive subject. It had been his job to wake up the small greaser for school a few days back, and it was in Ponyboy and Sodapop's bedroom where he found something interesting.

He had jumped onto the bed and shook Pony awake, which was nothing unusual. After Ponyboy had pushed Two-Bit off of him and rolled out of bed, the eighteen year old noticed a huge stack of papers, that all seemed to have been written on, laying in a neat pile on his desk.

After making sure no one was looking, he had crept over to the desk to check them out. He recognized Ponyboy's handwriting, and after reading over the first page, he quickly realized that it was a story, and Pony had written it. Two-bit wasn't much of a reader, but he was more than a little curious as to what kind of story Pony had written, with himself as the main character.

He drove Pony to school, and then drove right back to the Curtis house to read the story. After grabbing some cake and beer, he settled down on the couch to read what he could. In an eight hour school day, he managed to read about seven chapters, which was the most he had ever read in one day in his life. He was forced to stop once Steve and Pony came home, but the next day he anxiously continued, and it was the same the day after that, where he finally finished the book.

While the entire book was amazing, had had a great theme, one sentence stuck with Two-bit. Just one out of them all.

"Two-bit?" He was snapped out of his thoughts by Ponyboy's voice. "You okay? You've been staring at me for a while."

He blinked and shook his head. "Sorry kid-" he paused, mentally scolding himself for calling him 'kid.' After reading his book he was trying to be more conscious of Pony's feelings. It would just take some getting used to. "I mean...sorry Pone, I just got lost in thought."

"You're starting to sound like me." Pony smiled lightly.

"You know it ain't bad for you to daydream sometimes." Two-bit surprised himself by saying. It was sudden and out of nowhere, but he knew Pony needed to hear it.

Pony tilted his head slightly. "Huh?"

Finally, Two-bit cracked. "Okay, fine...I read your book."

Pony's eyes widened and he stood up, banging his fists on the table. "Keith Mathews!"

"It's not my fault! You left it out on the desk."

"Do you know how stressed I've been not being able to find that? And then I find out that you have it! That was supposed to be private! Only me and my English teacher were supposed to see it!" Pony fought back tears. "There were things in there that I wrote about everybody...I-I...I didn't plan on anyone seeing it..."

"Ponyboy I'm not mad at you," he walked over and sat down at the table slowly. Gesturing for Pony to do the same. "Everything ya wrote in your book was true, or if it wasn't ya made sure to fix it by the end...well...almost everything."

"What do you mean 'almost' everything?"

"Ponyboy...there was one sentence in that book that I can't get out of my head. I've gone back and reread it hundreds of times, hoping that I was looking at it wrong. I ain't a book genius or nothin' like you are, but I'm pretty sure I'm understanding this right." Pony stayed quiet, almost afraid to hear what Two-but was gonna say. After making it clear that he wasn't gonna answer, Two sighed and continued. "There was a sentence that said: ' _and they accepted me, because I was Darry and Soda's kid brother and I kept my mouth shut good.'_ "

Pony was surprised. He didn't expect for Two-bit to bring up that sentence. To him, it was one of the least important sentences in the book. So why did it stick with Two-bit?

"I'm confused..." he said finally.

Two-bit huffed. "Ponyboy...there a difference between acceptance, and importance, ya know that?"

"Course I do."

"Then why did you word that sentence like that? Pony, of course we accept you, but it's not just because your Darry and Sodapop's baby brother or because you never talk. Pony we all care about you a whole lot. You're important to me, ya know?"

Ponyboy crossed his arms and looked down. "I'm not stupid Two-bit...I know I'm just a kid. I'm only a real part of the gang because of my brothers." He sighed lightly. "You and Steve only tolerate me because of them."

The eighteen year old moved across the table to sit next to Pony. He threw his arm around his shoulders. "That ain't right at all Ponyboy. I don't tolerate you, 'cuz I don't have to. You're my buddy, and I really care about you."

Pony sniffed. "You do?"

Two-bit laughed and wiped away a few drops of tears that had fallen onto Pony's cheek merely out of stress. "Ah Pony, of course I do. You're our little dreamer...you got a future. Heck, one day you're gonna be in college and living in a big 'ol city, and you won't need any of us any more. You'll forget all about us."

"I would never just forget you guys!" Pony defended. "Two-bit...you and Steve and my brothers are all I have. I couldn't just forget. You're...you're the best friend I got. I always figured you guys would forget about me, I never thought you would worry about stuff about me."

"Look...I know you've been struggling since Johnny died...he was your best friend. I know I'll never replace him, but I can still try to be here for you. I don't want you feeling like you're just tolerated. We all really care about you Ponyboy." He stood up and pulled Pony into a tight hug.

Pony hugged back tightly and dug his face into Two-Bits chest. "Thank you..."

Two-bit grinned and messed with Pony's hair. "Don't you go tellin' the boys I'm a sissy or nothing."

"I won't." Pony laughed and let go.

"Come on," Two threw an arm around Pony's shoulder. "why don't we go see a movie?" Ponyboy grinned and nodded, suddenly not feeling tired anymore


End file.
